Sp-starter-kit: Is SharePoint Starter Kit ready for Production use?

Created on 3 Jul 2018 · 14Comments · Source: pnp/sp-starter-kit

All 14 comments

The SP Starter Kit requires the entire tenant be configured for targeted release for all users. I would never recommend a production tenant be configured for targeted release.

That does not mean you cannot provision most of the starter kit to a non-targeted release tenant though. You can, you will have to work through a few errors and warnings during installation, and certain SPFx webparts that require the GraphClient will not function at this time. Hopefully soon the targeted release requirement will not be needed although there is no official timeline yet.

That all being said, the starter kit is a community driven effort, meaning, although the implementation strategy and code is solid in my opinion, it is not officially supported or maintained by Microsoft or any other third party vendor. The starter kit was definitely designed to help you kickstart your Office 365 / SPO journey, showing off what is possible, as well as delivery solutions now.

You should expect more changes to the kit throughout the year and beyond. If you were to use the kit in production, I would recommend you review all components you intend to use including the provisioning, site scripts, site designs, webparts, and extensions so that you are confident you know what is there, and you could fix any issue that may arise. If you are at that point, I see no reason why would couldn't use part or all of the current kit in a production tenant.

eoverfield on 3 Jul 2018

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I saw Beau Cameron has a version for standard release mentioned here: https://beaucameron.net/2018/06/25/pnp-starter-kit-for-standard-release-tenants/

nicholas-morris on 4 Jul 2018

As @nicholas-morris mentioned, I did post a version of it for tenants that aren't in First-Release. But please please be aware, that some bugs still exist in the PnP Starter Kit and be cognizant of where you deploy this, and I also won't be maintaining that repo with any new fixes.

bcameron1231 on 11 Jul 2018

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Hi all, do we have any updates on when the targeted release requirement will no longer be needed for the starter kit? Like many, I've found the kit to be a brilliant way to sell the benefits of 365 and show the "art of the possible" to the institution. I would really like to use the kit as a basis for our intranet development but we can't really do this until it supports standard release. I guess the main obstacle is the web parts using the new Graph client.... Any updates would be appreciated.
-Max

mag210 on 3 Sep 2018

@mag210 The targeted release requirement is due to the utilization of the GraphClient which has not yet gone GA in SPO itself. Based on recent PnP Community calls, we are expecting SPFx v 1.6 in the next few weeks or early Q4. We have been told that v1.6 is expected to include the GA of the GraphClient.

Also consider that Ignite 2018 is later this month (Sept 2018). I have to believe that is a big driver to release 1.6 either right before or right around Ignite although that is only speculation.

eoverfield on 3 Sep 2018

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Hi @eoverfield , I see that the 1.6 version of SPFX is now in general release. Does this mean we can now use the starter kit in production tenancies which are not setup for First Release? The Graph APIs look like they are now available for GA so I would assume so?
Thanks,
-Max

mag210 on 12 Sep 2018

@mag210 Not quite that easy unfortunately. The SPFx solution itself must be upgraded to 1.6, which although is not difficult, will take some time. @waldekmastykarz has been assigned this task. https://github.com/SharePoint/sp-starter-kit/issues/137

eoverfield on 12 Sep 2018

Thanks @eoverfield. Looks like we're not too far off. This is going to be a huge help for SPFX Intranet developers all over...

mag210 on 12 Sep 2018

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Looks like @waldekmastykarz's update to 1.6 is complete.... @eoverfield Am I okay to deploy to a non first release tenant now? Let me know if there is anything to consider / changes to the process and happy to give this a go!

mag210 on 14 Sep 2018

@mag210 Yes, once @waldekmastykarz's commit is merged into the master branch, we should all be set and all tenants should be able to use the starter kit without the targeted release requirement. If you want to test the updates now, pull the dev branch and deploy that to one of your dev tenants.

eoverfield on 14 Sep 2018

hi guys any update on this ? i want to test it in production tenant. Thanks

Rtoribiog on 3 Oct 2018

@Rtoribiog This is related to https://github.com/SharePoint/sp-starter-kit/issues/168#issuecomment-427535039. I am working to get us an updated timeline.

eoverfield on 6 Oct 2018

Dear All,

looking on https://provisioning.sharepointpnp.com/ Targeted release option is requested despite 1.8.x SPFX version is available. could u kindly update?